


Wish I Was Royal

by sassidywrites



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Fraternity, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Crushes, Dating, F/M, Fluff, Fraternities & Sororities, Garreg Mach Monastery (Fire Emblem), Greek life au, Jealousy, Love Triangles, Modern Royalty, Slow Burn, Student My Unit | Byleth, Sweet
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-09
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:53:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22185928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sassidywrites/pseuds/sassidywrites
Summary: Byleth Eisner assists her father in his teaching at Garreg Mach University. However, the three big fraternities all want her to play favorites when it comes to her grading.She gets caught up in the attention of one particular house leader, and she tries to figure out how to best go about containing her feelings.A Greek life/college!AU Claudeleth fic.
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/My Unit | Byleth, My Unit | Byleth & Claude von Riegan, My Unit | Byleth/Claude von Riegan
Comments: 5
Kudos: 59





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a bit of a slow start and short, but I didn't know if I wanted to keep it up.
> 
> It's a modern/college AU with fantasy elements like they're still training for war in some regards, but there's more modernization.

“You ready for the start of the semester?” her father asked. Byleth shrugged. It was just another term for her, and she was growing closer to her own graduation. Her father was the professor, and she was just the TA that everyone preferred to talk to. Granted, she never really spoke much to those who came to her. Mostly she listened to whatever they had and slowly guided them through to the right answer.

“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be for it,” she told him. The only real reason she bothered with the classes were because it gave her something to do. She had her own classes to work on, but she held little interest in anything that wasn’t working on perfecting her own craft. Her father knew that, and the Dean had allowed it to continue out of a fondness for the father-daughter pair.

He stared at his daughter, trying to figure out what was going on in her head. She was roughly the same age as the students she helped teach, and she was the only one with relevant experience to also teach his students whenever he was unable to be at the lectures.

“I hear this year there were a bunch of students from those three clubs in our class,” he said, trying to start conversation with his daughter. She was a young woman of few words, and he hadn’t really seen her take an interest in anything but doing the work she was given. He had only brought her with him recently after getting a request from Dean Rhea to return to teaching. He took the position so that the wandering lifestyle wouldn’t be a huge hindrance to his daughter.

“I wonder what they’re like,” she said, looking up from the book she held in her hands.

“I hear the children of some rather powerful people are among them.”

“Cool.”

* * *

“Hey, Teach!” a voice called out to her as she left the classroom. It was only the first class, and her father had managed to leave it to her. She had made sure to remind all of the students that she was just the TA wasn’t going to be the one leading the bulk of classes or doing much than being there to help with questions and sometimes grade them.

Byleth turned to face the young man who had gotten her attention. He had said present when she asked for a Claude von Riegan, and that had told her that he was the grandson of the leader of Leicester. Her father had been serious when he said they had powerful people in their class. A princess and prince also joined the ranks of students plus the children of multiple advisors of sorts. She only had come to learn the names after being informed by her father what it meant for them. The names didn’t really mean much. She cared more for their potential.

“Can I help you?” she asked as he jogged over to her. “My father will have his office hours tomorrow.”

His face scrunched up for a moment. He had heard that the TA wasn’t the most talkative person at Garreg Mach, but he hadn’t expected her to brush him off like that. The young woman with dark blue hair and piercing blue eyes intimidated him. A voice inside his head that said to just leave her alone was suddenly drowned out by the challenge of wanting to at least get her to say more than a teaching assistant to a student.

“Well, the Golden Deer are having a feast tonight. I thought I’d might see if you wanted to join. It’s just a celebration of the new school year,” he smiled.

From behind her, she could hear someone else clear their throat.

“C’mon, Claude, you can’t just ask our professor’s daughter to an event with just your friends. It’d be rude to us,” said the white-hair young woman, Edelgard, as she interrupted the one on one conversation. “Miss Eisner, surely, you’d see that it may be playing favorites.”

“How about a mixer? All three of us. Golden Deer, Blue Lions, and Black Eagles together. With our special guest,” offered up the final person to join the small group, Dimitri.

All three pairs of eyes landed on the young teaching assistant, and a voice in her head told her that she had every right to tell them no. That they were brats for even thinking that she would play favorites among students who weren’t even her own. The voice had been growing louder and stronger, playing more of a part in the decisions she was making. Byleth put it out of her mind as she argued with it for a moment.

“I can join all three of you tonight. I can’t be playing favorites though,” she agreed. “Where should we meet?”

“Meet here. I’ll escort you,” Claude said with a wink.

A bit of color filled her cheeks, and she made haste to get away from the three future leaders as they started to bicker amongst themselves. She’d have to let her father know that she had agreed to go with the students to celebrate the start of the term.

“Teach!”

* * *

Byleth already knew exactly to whom that voice belonged as she approached her father’s classroom. Others used the room, but it was the same one that he had had term after term.

She had decided that looking a bit nicer rather than the sweatshirt and leggings that she normally wore at night was necessary. Lace leggings underneath a pair of black shorts with the one nicer blouse she owned for things like this. She felt foolish as she approached Claude. Seeing him dressed a bit nicer than she. The sleeves of his button down were pushed up, his pants looked as though they likely cost more than her entire outfit, and he wore the same golden capelet as he wore earlier in the day. Maybe a dress would have been the right course, but she couldn’t be sure that she even had one in her closet. A cocktail dress from a store in town would have been appropriate.

“So, was there a dress code that I wasn’t told about?” she asked. Her curt tone caused him to take a step back from her.

“Well… No, but if you’d like I’m sure Hilda, she’s one of us Deer, might have a dress you can borrow,” he offered. He racked his brain trying to remember if she had made it to lecture that morning. While the pink haired girl was one of his closest friends, even he had to admit that she had a laziness about her. There was a chance that she had even skipped the first class since rarely did they do much other than get a syllabus and then learn a bit about the class. Not something that was truly vital to the class at all.

“Let me decide when we get there,” she said. Byleth hadn’t wanted to end up owing a favor to anyone who was one of her father’s students. It set bad precedent for her.

Claude offered his arm to her, and without thinking, she took it. His skin was warm to the touch. A flutter arose in her stomach, but she had to remind herself that he was a student, and this was nothing. Others had been arm-in-arm with her, but most were generally afraid of what her father, Jeralt, would think of them. This was a change from that. She was separate from her father in this regard.

“Change if you want. I think you’ll look lovely either way,” he said, glancing out of the corner of his eye at her. Her cheeks reddened at his words, and she kept her eyes straight ahead as he led her on to the house that had come to house he and his friends.

Once they arrived, a few people outside mingling and enjoying the fair end of summer weather, Byleth looked around wondering if this had been a mistake. If she should be at home, spending time training or reading. The flutter in her stomach had returned, but now it was nerves. Being in fights had done nothing to her before, but this… this was a purely new situation for her. One she had wished she didn’t have to be in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! So thanks for reading this. It's been a long time since I really got into writing fanfics, and as I've kinda devoted all of my free time to FE3H, I felt the need to dip my toe back in the pool. If there's any interest, I'll keep it up. Or wrap it up in the next chapter. Who knows.
> 
> Heads up, the rating might change. (aka it probably will.)


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Introductions for Byleth to the members of both houses. I swear I'm never writing a chapter introducing everyone like this again.

“Claude!” exclaimed a girl when you finally arrived. She ran up and handed him a cup before turning to you. “So, you’re the reason we’re having the others over, too.”

“Ah, so you did skip lectures today,” Claude laughed. “Hilda, this is Professor Eisner’s teaching assistant, Byleth.”

“Aren’t you his daughter, too?” asked another voice. She had also been in the class this morning, and she had asked several questions about the professor. Like she idolized the man. To Byleth, that made perfect sense. He was an amazing leader and fighter, and she was lucky to have had him be her teacher her whole life. He helped create who she was. “I’m Leonie. In case you forgot.”

“I remembered,” Byleth said. It was hard to forget someone who had taken such an interest in her father’s history. Which in a way was an interest in her history. It made her really weigh what she even knew about her father and what she could share with the class.

“Hey, Hill, do you have a dress she could wear? I might not have mentioned that it was a bit more… formal.” Byleth glanced up at him, furrowing her brow. He had mentioned that she could likely borrow a dress, but now that she was here, and the desire to change had disappeared. Her outfit was fine in her own thoughts.

“No need. I’m fine as I am,” Byleth said as the pink-haired girl started to size her up.

“Oh, c’mon, let’s just go take a look. It couldn’t hurt,” Hilda grinned. The implication that the outfit she had on wasn’t enough hung in the air, but it didn’t seem like it was meant to offend as a hand was offered to the teaching assistant. Byleth looked at the faces of those gathered in the entryway and sighed. She knew that there wasn’t going to be much she could do to get around this. She took the hand of her student. “My room’s upstairs!”

Claude looked at Leonie as the two others ascended. “Have any of the others arrived yet?”

Leonie shook her head. He wondered if there was going to be any issues with the fact that he had offered up his new teacher, as most people knew she handled the bulk for Jeralt, to a wolf with pink hair.

“I don’t have much that will look good with blue, but I do have…” she trailed off as they entered her room. Hilda pulled out a black lowcut dress. It had been the dress that she wore the year prior to an event that her brother and father had asked her to attend. “This should fit. And you could keep your leggings with it. I can’t believe Claude didn’t tell you to like dress nice.”

“It’s fine,” Byleth offered. She eyed the dress suspiciously, and when it was thrust into her hands, she stared at it closer. A velvet bodice with layers upon layers of tulle looked more like something a ballerina or dancer would wear rather than the daughter of a former knight. “Even if it fits, I’m not sure I should change. It’s your dress. What if something happens?”

“Don’t be silly! I’ll make Claude pay if there’s a spill. But it’s black, so you don’t have to worry about a stain.”

She turned her back to Hilda as she relented. The girl’s tone made her think that she had no choice but to at least try the dress on. She pulled it on and looked over at Hilda who had just sat there watching. The zipper was left open as she turned to face a mirror. She felt the fabric tighten as she was zipped into the dress. There was a struggle as it didn’t exactly fit with the bodice, but once they got the final bit done, it did look nice.

“I have a necklace I made if you want something,” Hilda said, rummaging through the jewelry box on her desk. “Here! It’s yours. Just don’t mark me off for too many absences. Or being late to class.”

Byleth clasped the necklace and took in the sight in the mirror. She felt as though now she did belong at this party. It could have been that she felt accepted. It wasn’t often that she felt like she could befriend others just because her focus was always on her studies and assisting her father in his endeavors. Coming to the university the previous year, and now taking over more and more of the work he gave her had eaten away at her freedom and time.

“This seems… inappropriate,” she said. It threw the relationship with her students out of balance, and she wasn’t sure that that could be fixed. Especially since it was the night after their first class.

“Nope, let’s just go back downstairs. You’ll be fine!”

The pair made their way back down the stairs to see new faces gathered in the entrance of the house. They all turned to look when they heard a door open at the top of the stairs.

“You can’t try to buy the professor and his assistant’s favor by throwing them a feast, Claude,” Edelgard chided. She had arrived shortly before the blue-haired young woman came down from changing. After she walked in followed by Hubert and the rest of the Black Eagles, Dimitri and the Blue Lions appeared. General members of the houses went to mingle, but their leaders all stood in the foyer talking.

“First, I didn’t invite the professor. Second, I invited you guys, too. Don’t forget,” Claude laughed. The look in his eyes betrayed that he didn’t want them to have intruded on the evening, but it was too late, they were there and he wasn’t going to be able to get rid of them any time soon. “Ah, look, our guest of honor returns!”

Hilda bounded down the stairs past the leaders to find the others, and while Byleth had originally been resentful of being forced to spend time with her, she now hated that she had lost the pillar that she was thinking she could hide behind. The other had been more social, and that was preferable. She could be introduced to others and then listen in on the conversations they had. It was obvious that everyone had known each other for some time while she was an interloper in their social circles. Byleth had reasoned as she made her way down the stairs, now feeling self-conscious about the cut of the dress and the fact she was there at all, that if she stayed for a short while and then went home, no one would notice when she slipped out.

She took her spot among the three and looked at each of them, evaluating them based off of what she had learned so far and what she could guess about them. The power that the three of them would all hold someday was intimidating, but she knew that she couldn’t let them see any weakness of hers. In fact, she wanted them to think of her as a potential asset for their futures. Even if that was just to gain their respect and make things easier on her. 

“Byleth, that’s a beautiful dress,” complimented Edelgard. 

“It’s not even mine,” she admitted. “I hadn’t been prepared for something more formal. I expected… well, I expected a normal house party.”

“You can have a house party and dress formally for it,” Claude shrugged. “Just a chance to go all out.”

“It would just be a shame if anything happened to Hilda’s dress is all,” Byleth pointed out.

“Then we won’t let it.”

All eyes turned to Dimitri when he spoke. He had been quiet since his arrival, taking in the cheer of his friends and the two houses with whom he had a slight rivalry, a need to prove he was the best. A soft smile graced Edelgard’s face after the initial surprise.

“He’s right. We won’t,” she agreed.

“Enough with these formalities. Shouldn’t we introduce Teach to the rest of us?” 

As Claude clasped his hands behind his head, Byleth caught his eye. Was it really necessary for her to meet everyone at that moment? Wasn’t there a more organic way that they could have introduced her to people? Deep down, she knew that there wasn’t going to be an option for her to back out. She was going to be stuck meeting everyone. 

“El, should we start with your house?” asked Dimitri. Byleth cocked an eyebrow at the nickname that she assumed was for Edelgard, but she brushed it off. It was becoming more evident that everyone there had connections that she didn’t understand.

“Of course. I’m sure they’ll all be delighted to meet you, Byleth,” the girl grinned.

Edelgard led the way followed by Dimitri. Claude motioned for her to follow the previous pair. He took to her side as they made their way to a back room with a beer pong set up and various people sitting around talking. A boy with pale blue hair stood next to Hilda at the beer pong table against a team comprised of a girl with purple hair and a redhead. Byleth couldn’t recall names for the three that she hadn’t formally met, and she felt a bit guilty.

“Ball’s back!” cheered the blue haired boy.

“I’m not sure I understand,” replied the other team’s girl.

“Since both Caspar and Hilda made their shots, they get to go again,” her teammate explained.

“Byleth, from the Black Eagles, this is Caspar, Ferdinand, and Petra,” introduced Edelgard. She motioned to each one as she said their names, and in turn, they all turned to wave at those who were watching. 

“Edie! Join us!” a voice from one of the couches squealed. A brunette patted the spot next to her and a blonde girl.

“That’s Dorothea. Some believe she’s only here to get her Mrs,” said Claude. “She’s a lot smarter than people give her credit for though.”

“And don’t forget Ingrid!” Dorothea chimed in. 

“She’s a Lion with me,” said Dimitri. He gave Ingrid a soft smile before turning back to Edelgard. “Is that all that came for you tonight?”

“Hubert said he was trying to get Bernadetta and Lindhart to come, but he told me that’ll likely be a lost cause because of who they are. He’ll be late with or without them. I’ll introduce them later if I must,” she shrugged. “Other than Ingrid, do you have anyone else here?”

“I’m sure we’ll find them in a different room. I was able to get everyone out tonight,” he sneered. 

“You know, you two could just go get whatever the fuck that was out of your system in a different room,” offered Claude with a smirk. “Ignore their bickering. They’ve always been like this.”

“Shut up, Claude,” both Edelgard and Dimitri growled.

Claude laughed heartily at the two and looked down at his guest. He motioned to a doorway that led to a kitchen. A low rumble of voices came from the other room. He guided her through the door and leaned against the island in the kitchen. Byleth moved to grab and empty cup and fill it from the cooler next to him. She took a sip and her face scrunched up at the taste.

“We always make it a little stronger if we’re having the others over,” boomed a guy standing in the corner after noticing the face Byleth had pulled. He then clapped the meeker looking guy next to him on the back. The shorter blonde looked startled at the sudden contact. “This is Ignatz. I’m Raphael. I figured you wouldn’t remember all of our names… yet.”

“You’re right. Give me a few more classes,” she grinned. 

A girl who appeared to be on the younger end of the spectrum of people at the party sat on the counter eating a cookie and watching everyone. She gave the scene playing out in front of her a once over as she thought her words out. She finished up the treat she was eating and reached for another before speaking, “I’m Lysithea.”

“You’ve met almost all of my house now. Only Lorenz and Marianne are left, but Marianne never comes out when there’s tons of people over, and Lorenz is probably preparing a speech for you on why he’d be a better leader for us than I am as his introduction,” Claude shrugged.

“Claude, are you going to introduce us to this beautiful girl you have with you?” asked a tall redhead in the corner who stood with two friends. He made his way over to the pair and took Byleth’s hand and giving it a quick kiss. “They call me Sylvain, but you can call me anytime.”

“Sylvain, that’s our professor’s daughter,” his friend remarked in a disgusted tone.

“Lighten up, Felix. I’m just having fun,” he quipped. “Dedue, tell him I’m allowed to have fun.”

“I see you’re meeting my friends now,” said Dimitri as he entered the room. “And that Sylvain is treating you just like any other pretty face he meets.” 

Felix rolled his eyes at the scene in front of him. He regretted agreeing to be the sober friend looking after Sylvain. Not that he had much of a choice after losing when it came to drawing straws with Ingrid, Dimitri, and Dedue. The latter of which stood in the corner watching wordlessly. He just shook his head at the sight and looked back down at his cup.

“Everyone else is outside,” Felix informed them.

Dimitri motioned for Claude to lead the way to the back porch and then walked with Byleth. Edelgard stayed in the kitchen and moved over to speak to Lysithea rather than join the three in the backyard.

“Ashe, Mercedes, Annette, this is our new TA, Byleth,” Dimitri introduced the three who sat outside enjoying the cool summer night’s air. They looked up from their conversation to offer smiles. “As you can see, all of us Lions make sure to attend every function.”

Dimitri bowed slightly as he made his way back inside leaving Claude and Byleth with the three who were already outdoors. A slight breeze ruffled the dark tulle of her skirt, and she was thankful that this was likely the only night that she was going to be subjected to introduction after introduction. After all, it wasn’t like that was something that would need to happen at every function should she choose to attend another with her students.

“Because they’re afraid of you,” Claude muttered under his breath as the blonde prince left. He looked up at the starry night and sighed. She took in the outline of his face against the patio lights as she slowly drank. “You know, I wasn’t even sure you’d actually show up for this and that I’d be stuck having to talk to Prince Dour and Princess Priss all night.”

“I think that I made a mistake in coming tonight,” she finally admitted. “I mean, isn’t it inappropriate to have me here?”

“Nah, one of the professors goes to the bar with students, so I think being at this house party, especially when you’re not really even on the staff is fine,” he grinned. “Plus, I’m glad you came.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since it seems people actually like it, I'm posting the second chapter that I already had written. Plans are to update it every few days. It's a modern/fantasy mashup with this Greek life/college AU because I love things that are bit anachronistic. 
> 
> Thanks again for reading ♥


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A house party continues, and there seems to be a bit of jealousy.

Once they ate, the festivities started back up. Byleth found herself on one end of the beer pong table, paired up with Dimitri against a team of Claude and Hilda. Chatter filled the air around them, and the nervous energy dissipated as everyone settled into a better mood. It didn’t appear that things like this happened often, but it was a nice reprise from the competition between the houses. 

“Try to distract him,” whispered Dimitri as Claude stepped back to let Hilda take her shot. Byleth looked at him confused until his eyes flitted to her chest. She rolled her eyes before looking at the other end of the table. A small splash let them know that it was Dimitri’s turn to drink.

Byleth knew that she had one easy way to try to keep from having to drink, too, and she was going to take it. She knelt at the end of the table, keeping her chest at around the same level as the cups, and a rogue smile graced her lips as Claude threw his shot. It was obvious he had gotten distracted as the ball hit closer to her than the cup that she was certain he was aiming for. She winked at him as she stood up and high fived Dimitri. “I would’ve felt foolish if that didn’t work.”

The game went on, and when it came down to it, Claude proved himself to have better aim than both of his opponents on the final cup. A new game started with Claude and Hilda against an intimidating looking pair: Edelgard and Hubert. Byleth found herself stuck in a conversation with a group of the Lions where it was obvious that while Dimitri was pretty soundly their leader, there was one person who hated it. 

“You know, you could always join our house,” Dimitri offered her as they gathered in the kitchen. She shrugged it off. The option to join a house had been present to her when she had started at Garreg Mach, but her father had reminded her that each group had their own agendas, and that if she wanted to get out of school faster and back to living the life they had before their arrival at the school, she was better off keeping to herself.

“You totally should!” Sylvain interjected. “Even if you don’t, I’d love to take you to tea sometime.”

“Is there anyone you won’t flirt with?” asked Ingrid with a roll of her eyes. “I’m so sorry you have to deal with him, Byleth.”

The blue-haired young woman shrugged. She had dealt with worse, and this was fairly tame compared to some of the things that had been said to her in the past. 

“I’ll consider it,” she said, just trying to quell any conversation. And it seemed as though the redhead took her words to be to him, but she had been looking at Dimitri as she spoke. The two had had a good game and seemed to work well together. She wouldn’t mind having someone powerful on her side either for when she left school. 

Dedue came in asking for the prince to be his partner for the next game of beer pong, and Byleth used this chance to refill her cup and move away from the group in the kitchen. She found some space outside and watched as a group gathered around a bonfire. From where she sat, she could see that most of the party had almost segregated itself. Those who were from the upper class and noble families were in the house, and it appeared that most others found themselves outside. There wasn't much of a space for her to fit in. She was the same age as her students, but it felt like she had lived much longer than them with the things that she had experienced before coming with her father to the school. He hadn't even wanted to take the job, but it felt like he was more forced into it as a favor to the woman who ran the school.

“Needed air, Teach?” Claude asked her as he joined her. “Care for company?”

“It’s your house,” she shrugged. She wouldn’t say no to the company of anyone she had met that evening save for maybe Hubert since the way he looked at her made a chill run down her spine, but she had to admit that she wasn’t giving him a fair shake. He was just scary. Claude, on the other hand, was warmer. Even if she could tell his smile was more of a mask like the one she found herself wearing when she was talking to her students, but she was in no place to call him on that. She was often accused of having no emotions or even being expressive at all. A blank stare was all that she could muster most of the time. 

“You and Dimitri seemed pretty chummy,” he said. Her brows knit together as she looked him over. _Jealousy_ . That’s what she was picking up from him. He looked over at her, a glint in his eyes. _Maybe he’s just messing with you,_ the voice of reason in her head told her. There was no reason for him to be jealous. Unless he thought that getting close to her would lend itself to any leniency in terms of her grading or help when it came to studying.

No real expression took over her face as she shrugged. She wasn’t going to try to read into his feelings. Not when she could tell he so often kept a mask on to hide how he felt. Byleth had never been one for showing much expression, so she couldn’t fault someone else for doing the same. She took a slow sip of her drink as she observed him. 

“So what about you and Hilda?” she asked him. If he was going to try to insinuate anything about her and one of her students, she figured she could pry into him and his history. He sputtered.

“Just friends.”

“You seem pretty chummy for just friends. Even if you’re from the same house.”

She waited for a response. Did she feel a little bad using his own words against him? No, not really. It was her way of getting a feel for more of the dynamics. She had already picked up on the fact that some people were closer than others. Byleth wanted to know what she was getting herself into by even thinking of befriending these students. The closeness between Hilda and Claude had confused her since it seemed like they relied on each other for more than they would care to admit. 

“Promise. Just friends,” he shrugged. She could sense that there was more that he wasn’t telling her, but she figured that it wasn’t something that he was going to share with a near stranger. He kept staring at the few gathered around the bonfire as someone threw a new log into the fire. “Plus I’m pretty sure she’s into an Eagle.”

She dropped it. Byleth was certain that she wasn’t going to get anywhere by continuing to ask him questions. 

“I should probably head out soon,” she said, standing and wiping off any dirt that got on the skirt of Hilda’s dress. 

“The party’s barely started. Stay.”

“This isn’t really my scene,” she told him. Claude stood up and looked her over. He knew that that was true enough on her part. The teaching assistant was out of place. She had no real relationship with any of the people there, and she had only accepted his invitation because she was put on the spot and felt as though she didn’t have a chance to say no. 

“Ok, but let me walk you home or something. I don’t want Prof. Eisner coming after me for not making sure his daughter got home safe,” he offered. 

Byleth raised an eyebrow at that. She thought it was pretty well known that she didn’t need anyone watching over her. Her father had taught her everything she knew, and that should have been enough to keep her safe on a walk across campus and to her apartment. Most people stayed out of her way because they weren’t quite sure what to make of her, and her current students were the only people who seemed like they cared any to get to know her.

“You really don’t-”

“I know,” he laughed as he cut her off. “Think of it as my apology for dragging you into any mess between us and the others.”

She didn’t know if she quite believed him, but if this was something that he wanted, she realized that there wasn’t much that she could do to convince him that she didn’t need an escort. Her father taught classes on tactics and fighting, and she was the one who had gained the most from his classes since it had been her life.

“Won’t everyone notice if you leave your own party?” She motioned towards the lights and sound coming from the inside of the house and the handful of people outside around a growing bonfire. “I’m more than capable of getting myself home.”

“Oh, I’m sure you are, and I know they would. You could also just stay until everyone decides to head out and I’ll walk you home under the guise of us joining them out in town,” he said.

A smile played on her lips as she realized that he wasn’t going to let her just go no matter what. He stood with her on the back patio and just waited for her to give him an answer. Claude wanted to unravel whatever mysteries it was that his new TA held, and he wasn’t going to stop from learning as much as he could about her. Even if it was going to take convincing her to stay at the party for a little bit longer. He hoped that the more she drank, the more open she would be to talking.

She had to weigh the options that were being presented to her. Staying at the party meant that she could get cornered into more conversations, but leaving meant she could go home and enjoy the rest of her evening alone but risk her students getting upset with the fact that she just left. The choice was fairly obvious to her since they were just students and not really her peers, but the voice that was always present in her mind told her stay and to act her age for once. It wasn’t like she got to do that ever.

“Fine, I’ll stay,” she told him. “But you still don’t need to walk me home.”

“Good because I’m pretty sure we’re next up on the table.”

* * *

A final cup was there between her and the chance to leave. If she could make this shot, since Claude had barely overshot his, Byleth was fairly certain she would get to leave and go home. That was more pressure on her than she wanted as more of the Eagles and Deer gathered around the table. Hubert and Edelgard had gone undefeated after the game they played against Hilda and Claude, and a chance to take them down seemed like it was a big deal to everyone there. Who was she to let them down? Part of her considered asking someone to come in for a celebrity shot, but she wasn't sure what the house rules were for that sort of thing.

She closed her eyes and hoped for the best after she lined up her shot. As soon as there was a subtle splash, she felt herself get pulled against the guy standing next to her while the rest of the Golden Deer cheered. It had been pure luck on her part that she had made the ball, and she had to hope that neither of her opponents would be able to make a ball on their chance to keep the game going. And they didn't.

"You ready to see what we do before bar time?" asked Claude, a mischievous glint in his eye. 

"Oh no," groaned Hilda as she watched her housemates circle up and grab their guests with them.

Someone queued up the music to blast a song that she recognized from the movie Mulan. Byleth moved to join the circle, but Claude grabbed her wrist and pulled her to join him in the center of the circle. She shook her head as he started singing and clapping along with the beat. She made eye contact with people from outside of the house who seemed as confused as her. Soon some members from other houses had joined in once they had figured out what was going on. The final hoorah of the song came, and fists pumped into the air. Smiles were plastered to the faces of those who were into this whole display. This was not how she expected a bunch of kids dressed in cocktail dresses and button down shirts to have acted.

Everyone gathered with their respective houses as they started to leave. Friends linked arms, and Byleth was just interested in the fact that that was how the Golden Deer got together before going out. She stood back and tried to figure out if she could leave with the crowd and cut out in the confusion to be on her way home rather than drink out in public. Claude caught her eye and shook his head as if to tell her not to leave yet. She did as she assumed he wanted, but she was confused when he went out onto the front porch, but she stayed planted in her spot, still trying to process the evening.

The house felt empty and quiet when the last person had finally left the house, door slamming behind them. Claude came back into the living room and laughed. "I'm pretty sure your boy was looking for you," he told her. Confusion blanketed her face, and he rolled his eyes. "Dimitri."

"Not my boy. Just a student."

"Is your dad going to be mad if you come home smelling like you were at a party?"

She shook her head at him. He hadn't a clue what the dynamics between the professor and his daughter were, but Claude knew that if he had come home after a party that his grandfather would point out to him that he wasn't acting in a way that was befitting someone of his position. He was to lead their home when he was older, and partying wasn't the right way to act. He wondered sometimes if the prince and princess had their own struggles with that when it came to proper etiquette.

"You're more than welcome to stay here if he is." His voice was soft like he wanted to help her avoid any trouble. 

"I'll be fine. Plus I don't live with him. I wanted some distance if I was going to be working for him."

He raised an eyebrow at her, and she felt her cheeks flush. There was no reason for her to tell him that she didn't live with her father, but it just came out. Talking to Claude felt easy to her. Easier than talking to most anyone else ever had. He didn't seem to want anything from her other than just her company.

"Then let's go." 

He offered her his arm again like he had when he walked her to the party. Byleth took it just because it felt natural to end the evening the same way that she had started it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the "I'll Make a Man Out of You" thing is something that happens/ed at a frat I used to hang out with when I was in school. They would sing "I'll Make a Man Out of You" then "Wagon Wheel" then do their chant before going to the bars.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A day of study sessions for certification exams and grabbing a bite to eat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay. I've been sick.

The next few weeks passed uneventfully. Her father started giving her more and more responsibilities when it came to his class. Under the guidance from Rhea and her father, she had started teaching his class twice a week: once each to the two sessions he had, and it always came that her classes were the ones they had on Thursdays. Byleth liked it this way. Sure, she still had to show up to the Tuesday sessions for both classes for the administrative parts of it like taking attendance and making sure she was going to be prepared for covering the classes on her own, but it made her feel like she had more freedom and power.

She also found herself getting along with the students since the party. They saw her more as one of them than a real authority figure. It was a good change of pace from the previous year that she had helped since she had held everyone at an arm’s length then. This felt more natural to her. She could help her students really get a better grip on the material if she knew them and could tailor any help to them as an individual. Whether it was going to the library or grabbing lunch with them, she was learning to the way her newfound friends understood things.

Perhaps that was why her students actually attended the study sessions she had before their certification exams. Sure, other years had students show up, but to see all of the Golden Deer at the time she set for them, that was a surprise. They had been the house who she expected the lowest attendance from just based off of personality. The other two houses she expected to show up, but this was different.

She watched students spar and pointed out strengths and weaknesses. She explained why you wouldn’t attack head on. The faces of her students showed that they did understand what she was saying, and she expected that they would be able to handle the exams in the coming weeks. Each one had different schedules for these exams, but she was fairly certain that they were going to be able to handle themselves.

“Teach, since time’s up, wanna grab lunch?” Claude asked her as she packed up the materials she was using for the study session. “My treat.”

“Bribery isn’t going to help you pass. I have nothing to do with the grading,” she told him.

“I know, I know. I should be asking your dad if he wants to get a drink with me if I wanted to bribe someone,” he laughed. “But c’mon, you’ve got to be starving after dealing with us for an hour.”

“You have a good point,” she agreed, and she hoisted her bag onto her shoulder as she fell into step with him.

The pair of them walked in step across the old monastery’s grounds to an on campus café. They talked about how he was preparing for his exams and how she had done on hers which had been taken the prior year. She admitted to him that she had had fears of not passing and what that would mean for her helping her father, and he shared with her the pressure that he was feeling from his grandfather. The way his brow furrowed told her all that she needed to know about the situation and she didn’t prod further into why it was his grandfather putting that pressure on him rather than a parent.

As the pair approached the cashier, Claude lightly smacked Byleth’s hand away as she went to pay for the meal. He gave the worker the money to cover both sandwiches and drinks and made his way to a table near a window overlooking the fishing pond.

“I told you it was my treat.”

“Still, I had to try to pay for my own,” she told him as she took a seat.

Claude looked the TA over as she sat with her back to the window. He could see the shift in her over the time they’d spent together when it came to classes. The corners of his mouth pulled up slightly as he remembered the first class and how straight to the point and emotionless she had been. He slowly took a sip of his tea as he watched her absentmindedly twirl a strand of her hair around a finger as she ate.

“You should join a house,” he said suddenly. Her eyes widened and then narrowed suspiciously at him. “Specifically the Golden Deer.”

“I’m happy being without one,” she told him. “I don’t see a point in it.”

“Just think about it. Camaraderie and the chance to hang out more with me,” he offered. A playful wink punctuated his words.

Byleth paused as she looked at him. Trying to figure out what his angle with her joining really was. Offers had come from both Dimitri and Edelgard for the same thing, but she could see their angle: they wanted something the other didn’t have. They had both complimented her strength and pointed out how she would be better off with them. Claude was just trying to sell her on having friends. 

She would be lying if she hadn’t once thought about joining any of the houses. Each of them had their appeals to her, but it always came back to the fact that this was her last year at school, and she wanted to be as neutral as possible when it came to her students. Mostly because she didn’t want to face any complaints that she was showing favoritism. Her father also had also filled her in on why the students in those houses acted the way that they did.

“I’ll think about it,” she told him as she finished the last bit of her tea. “Thanks for lunch. I have another study group meeting soon. Can’t leave them hanging.”

“Deer are hosting another open invite party after exams are done. Hope to see you there,” he invited her as she got up from the table. 

* * *

Byleth pulled her hair back into a ponytail as she waited for the last of the people who told her they were coming to this study session walked in. It had been her father’s idea to try to break them up by house and still invite students who weren’t in the houses to make it easier on her. Four sessions broken up over two days, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. She was hoping that this session with the Blue Lions, things would be a little bit easier than they had that morning. Mostly because she would get to head home afterwards.

“An apple for the most beautiful professor on campus,” Sylvain said as he put an apple next to the basket of cookies that Mercedes had brought in. She shook her head and laughed at him.

“Not a teacher. Go take that to Manuela if the ‘most beautiful professor on campus’ is your target,” she laughed at him. “Just a TA.”

“He takes one to her every class,” Ingrid informed her as she pushed Sylvain to a desk. “Sorry, Byleth.”

Soon enough, the entirety of the Blue Lion house had taken their seats with a few random students mixed in, and she was able to start going over questions that they had in regards to the upcoming exams.

She explained the points that she had learned from her father and pointed out weaknesses once more when she paired off students to spar. Most of her students, those who were going to work with magic specifically, put the finishing touches on the spells that they were studying, and they just watched from the sidelines until a new sparring partner was available.

As Dimitri’s match came to an end, he took a stand next to Byleth and watched her as she watched the fighters. She glanced up at him as Felix and Dedue finished up, and she watched Annette pair up with Dedue against Felix and Mercedes. The pairs seemed unevenly matched at first, but she was willing to let the fight happen as she was trying to remind her students that fighting with a partner sometimes strengthened your attacks.

“Have you thought about what I asked you?” Dimitri said under his breath as the clash of training weapons got loud enough that he didn’t worry about being overheard. Byleth had turned her eyes back to the fight going on in front of them, and she turned over his words.

“I have.”

“And?”

“Yes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so I just finished my BL run, and so this is getting a little bit of a change. Not a huge one. It's still a Claudeth fic. Kinda.


	5. Chapter 5

The coming week passed quickly, and that Friday evening, Byleth brushed her hair out and hoped that she looked decent enough. She had a feeling that she was making a mistake, but she wasn’t going to back out now. He was going to be there soon anyway. There wasn’t any reason for her to have said no, and if she had been honest with herself, she was excited. This was a change of pace for her when she would normally just spend the evening in, reading or training, maybe watching something online, but when was the last time she actually went out on a date? 

Hook ups? She’d had plenty, but she didn’t find herself often wanting to go out on a date. Mostly because the young woman didn’t feel she had the time, and it wasn’t like she often stayed in one place for too long to try to make relationships happen. Being at the school was the longest she had been somewhere, anywhere, without leaving. Byleth found herself actually wanting to stay in town around Garreg Mach since she was getting a taste for the town. The university was nice, and the old monastery grounds were fun to explore in between classes and in her free time, but going into town to a café or a bookstore was a nice reprieve from being only around other students. She had townsfolk that she had gotten friendlier with.

_Knock._

Her thoughts came back to earth at the rapping on her door. A darting glance at her alarm clock showered her that he was early. That was often a trait she appreciated, but she wanted a little more time to finish getting ready for the evening. She hadn’t finished her makeup since it wasn’t often she put some on and wanted to make sure it looked good. Byleth got up from the chair she pulled in front of her dresser and opened the door.

“Oh,” the man on the other side stammered as he took in the appearance of the young woman in front of him.

“What are you doing here?” she asked him. The fact that her date wasn’t the one at her door surprised her. 

“Claude?” 

The young man in her doorway turned to face the blonde coming up the hallway to the apartment door. Byleth closed her eyes and wondered what she had done to piss the goddess off and bring this upon her doorstep. She stepped out into the hallway and closed the door partially behind her. Claude searched her face, and as their eyes met, a look flashed in his that she didn’t expect.

“Guess I’m interrupting something,” he tried to laugh. The smile Claude tried to put on didn’t meet his eyes, and Byleth hated the pained look in his eyes. “I’ll be going now.”

“Claude…” she trailed off as he turned away from her. She shook her head as he skulked back down the hallway and past Dimitri. Her eyes landed on the blond in her hallway and shrugged. “You’re early. Can I make you some tea as I finish getting ready?”

Dimitri looked over his shoulder and then back at his date. A smile graced his face as he finally got a better look at Byleth. The fluttering in her stomach caused her to tear her eyes away from him as she stepped aside to let him into her sparsely decorated apartment. She put turned her electric kettle on and excused herself as she finished the little bit of makeup she chose to wear that evening. 

“So I have Earl Grey, chamomile, mint, and some sort of breakfast blend,” she told him as she came back out of her bathroom. He didn’t respond, and she looked over to find Dimitri going over the books on her bookshelf. Byleth moved next to him and smiled as he pulled one of her favorite books off of the shelf. “Jeralt used to read that to me.”

“I can’t imagine Prof. Eisner reading to a child,” he laughed. 

“He’s not as scary and tough as a lot of you seem to think he is,” she admitted. “He’s got a bit of a soft side if you really work to find it.”

The kettle whistled, and he followed her to the kitchen. Dimitri watched as she pulled the boxes of tea bags out of the cabinet and took one for herself. He grabbed a chamomile tea bag and put it into the mug she placed in front of him.

“So what was he doing here?” he asked. She shrugged as she twirled the tea bag around her mug. Byleth wished she had an answer for why Claude was at her apartment. That had to be whom he was speaking about after all.

“Beats me. You got here right as I was answering the door,” she told him. She took a slow sip of her tea. 

“Odd,” he pondered as he took the tea bag out of his mug. “So I had a plan for tonight, but I realized I didn’t even know what you’d want to do. If you’d like we can just eat and then walk around town or see a show or go bowling. I’m also open to staying here and ordering takeout and watching a movie.”

“I spend all my time here. Let’s do something different.”

He smiled at her words and watched her down the last of her tea. His pride swelled at the idea that essentially he had won. Even if he had seen Edelgard as the main competition for trying to get the TA to pick one of their houses to maybe join and give an edge in class. He never knew that there was someone else after Byleth, but he should have guessed. Ever since the party at the Golden Deer house, he had paid close attention to how Claude and Byleth seemed to be close. That was why he was surprised when she said yes to him. 

He thought that they had been dating. Or even just sleeping together. Anything to explain why he saw them talking after class or grabbing food whenever they had a study session. Dimitri knew he wasn’t the only one who saw the way they seemed to be friends. He’d listened to more than his fair share of moaning about how Sylvain wanted to be the one getting with the professor’s assistant. 

The pair walked from her apartment near campus to a small pub that she claimed had amazing bar food. Dimitri had to admit that it wasn’t often he found himself without Dedue or any sort of bodyguard around and that that made it difficult for him to try bars like the one that Byleth had led him to. They tucked themselves into a booth in the corner and ordered. He followed her order of fish and chips, but their drink orders differed as he watched her browse the menu for something she hadn’t tried before.

“I’m still surprised you said yes,” he said, breaking the silence that had settled over them as they drank and waited for their food.

“I’m surprised you asked at all,” she laughed. “You seem like you’re only ever focused on getting ahead and living up to the expectations you set on yourself. Not dating. Or whatever this is.”

“It’s a date, but you’re right,” Dimitri shrugged. “Can I tell you a secret?”

“My lips are sealed.”

“Sylvain agreed to take school more seriously if I tried to date, and you were the only person I could think of that I would want to take a chance on.”

Her cheeks burned as she now couldn’t find herself able to meet his eyes. There was a small bit of indignation that he only asked her out in order to get Sylvain to study more, but that she was the one he was after was shocking. Byleth looked up at him finally and smiled as she thought about how to react.

“Should I be honored that you asked me out or hurt that it took your friend getting you to do so?” she asked him. 

He laughed, and it was the most honest sounding laugh she had heard from him. Like he actually was finally finding something funny rather than laughing for the sake of not being the only one not doing so. A buzz in her pocket drew her attention for a second, but she figured whomever it was could just wait. That was until Dimitri excused himself for the bathroom before their food was delivered.

 _Just friends, huh?_ The text read. She hated the moment that she had offered her phone number to students to help them keep in touch with her for any reason. 

_I didn’t think it was a problem,_ she sent back before tucking the phone into her pocket again. She wasn’t going to let Claude realizing that she was out with someone else cause her to be less interested in the date she was on. He could have asked, but he never did. It almost seemed most of the time that he wasn’t interested in her at all. If he did, the next day he was aloof.

Dimitri returned as the food was placed on the table, and she forgot about the text that she had gotten and she didn’t wonder about the one she felt come in. They ate in relative silence, but as soon as the food was cleared from their plates, conversation came easily as they discovered that they had sadder things in common like both losing their mothers young. He also told her on how he lost his father and step-mother in an attack during a diplomatic visit and how he almost died. She shared the times she came close to dying while doing work for her father or those who employed them prior to taking the teaching gig.

As they finished eating, they decided that the night was too clear for them to want to spend more time inside. The pair found themselves walking through a park near campus. Byleth walked close to Dimitri and just appreciated having an evening with him that wasn’t focused on studying or school or sharing their attention with the others from his house.

“It’s getting a little late,” he commented as they got back to the entrance to the park. “Let me walk you home.”

Of course, as soon as they arrived at the building, he insisted on walking her to her front door. He leaned against the wall as he watched her unlock the door. Any concerns that he had about her and Claude when in the hallway earlier had melted away as she invited him in. Dimitri took up a spot on the couch as she grabbed a bottle each of the beer she kept in her fridge. She turned something on as background noise as she sat opposite of him on the couch, stretching out and resting her feet against his thigh.

“You’re so far now,” he laughed at her. 

“What? You want me close?”

She shifted from her spot to sitting in the middle of the couch, now not touching him. He rolled his eyes at her and threw an arm behind her on the back of the couch. Byleth looked at him and took the offer to mean she could get closer if she wanted to. She shifted her weight and rested against him before looking up at him.

“Much better,” he said. His eyes met hers, and she appreciated that this was how their evening turned out. Dimitri smiled at her as they settled into the couch. He rested his chin on the top of her head as they watched the show he had picked as background noise: a documentary about the kingdom he came from.

“So are we going to do this again?” she asked him as she finally looked up at him. 

“Do you want to? I’m more than happy to,” he told her.

She craned her neck and pressed her lips to his. He pressed a hand into her back, holding her to him as they kissed. She nipped at his bottom lip, and Dimitri pulled her onto his lap. He broke the kiss and reached past her to put his nearly empty bottle on the coffee table before taking hers and putting it right next to his.

“Is that a yes to a second date?” he asked her. She nodded at him.

The small voice that often appeared in the back of her head asked her what about Claude, but as Dimitri’s lips crashed into hers, she forgot about the concerns. One hand tangled itself in her hair while the other made its way up her shirt. Byleth pulled away momentarily as she discarded her shirt before her mouth met his again and her fingers worked at the buttons of his shirt. Did she think that rushing into sleeping with a prince, with her dad’s student, was a good idea? No, but that was less of a concern now than getting what she wanted.

He fumbled with the clasp on her back, and she deftly reached back and undid it for him. It wasn’t a surprise to her that he struggled with it, and she was certain he had never done this before. She was surprised by that thought since she had seen girl after girl throw themselves at Dimitri before class and whenever the two passed each other on campus. He never paid much mind to them. The hardness straining against his jeans proved to her that she was the one that he wanted. And for her, that was enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm changing the rating of this fic, but I wanted to ease into it. I was going to write more, but I mostly wanted to work with this dynamic. It was going to be a lot longer, but I didn't want to wait too long to update because if I didn't post today, it wouldn't have gotten put up until after Valentine's Day.


	6. Chapter 6

As Byleth organized the papers her father had to hand out, she wondered how seeing Claude would be. She hadn’t heard from him since he texted her a few days prior. At the same time, she hadn’t been glued to her phone. Dimitri had kept her occupied that night and the following morning, and the two days in between had been dedicated to studying on her own, going to her own classes, and focusing on getting everything ready for assisting her father with the certification exams. She felt as though she was prepared to face the students for their exams, but she knew she would have to steel herself against seeing Claude if she were to spar with him. Or if she were to see him at all as an ache had taken hold in her chest whenever she thought of the look on his face when he figured out what Dimitri was doing there. 

The morning class started to file in, and it wasn’t lost on her that some of the students, specifically those few from the Golden Deer, weren’t as talkative with her as they normally were when they came in. Any disappointment faded as soon as _his_ blue eyes met hers. They had agreed that they wouldn’t act any different in class, so she just offered him a small smile as he took his normal spot between Dedue and Sylvain. The latter had winked at her when he came in. Worry ripped through her that already her students were going to regard her differently just because she had gone out once with Dimitri, but those fears were quelled by the fact that really Sylvain was acting like he did every time he came into the classroom.

Her father finally came into the classroom. Chatter amongst the students stopped as soon as the gruff man cleared his throat, and Byleth took that as a sign to start handing back the papers. She was left with one once all were passed back out: Claude’s. It wasn’t like him to skip class, so she broke her father’s no electronics policy to send him a quick text and make sure he was ok. The lack of response wasn’t a surprise, so she listened in on whatever her father was covering and made a reminder at the end of their hour reminding them that the certification exams were soon and she’d be in her office for an extra hour each day leading up to them if questions were had. 

After the second class of the day, she found herself back in her office, staring across her messy desk at her officemate, Flayn. There was a stark difference between the two girls’ desks. Flayn’s held more pictures of the girl’s parents than Byleth’s did, and it had more that signified the things that were most interesting to her: fish and religion. Several of the tchotkes had been given to her as gifts from students or from Byleth. She always made a point of getting a gift for someone if something caught her eye in a flea market stall or the window of a store as she passed by. Flayn just happened to be easier to shop for than most of the people she knew. Her desk, in contrast, held few things that betrayed her interests but never seemed to be as tidy as it should have been. Organization wasn’t a strong suit of hers, and that spilled into the shared space of the office.

“Father and I are going fishing this weekend. I wanted to invite you and your dad. We could have a family bonding weekend,” she grinned. The two were cousins, and had both lost their mothers. The main difference was their fathers and the way they approached raising a daughter. Seteth had always struck Byleth as overprotective while her father was more interested in letting her explore the world and make her own choices even if that meant following in his footsteps every step of the way. The first time she had ever drank with her father, she commented on it and thanked him for not treating her as though she was so fragile that the slightest wrong word caused her to break. In a way, she thought that it was a disservice to her cousin. 

“Can’t. I already have plans. Next one though,” she promised with a slight smile. She saw Flayn more as a younger sister since she was the one who really tried to help bring the girl into more activities. 

“Is it another date?” 

Both girls jumped at the voice. Flayn’s head whipped in Byleth’s direction, and the other girl’s cheeks flushed. Claude leaned in the doorway and looked between the two girls. Flayn smiled widely as she turned to the young man, but Byleth’s eyes just narrowed at him. She wanted to point out to him that he had no right to really ask that and turn the questioning back on him as to why he felt the need to skip class when they were getting so close to exams. The voice in the back of her head told her to keep her temper in check as she searched through the stacks of paper that had accumulated on her desk since she got there for the paper to give back. Once she had it, she held it out to him and came up with the proper response. “It isn’t, but thanks for asking. Here for your paper back?”

The shallow attempt to keep things strictly to class was also a poor lie. As Dimitri had leaned against her headboard, eyes kept on her as he watched her pull leggings and a sweatshirt. That was what she had chosen to wear just to keep herself rather covered before making the pair coffee. His invite to an event being put on by the Blue Lions came as she started to top off their mugs. There was no hesitation when she accepted, but now, just two days later, she was denying that she was going on a second date. At least, it had been presented to her as though it was a date since the first one hadn’t exactly ended when the invitation was extended.

“Uh huh, also wanted to see if you were free to practice later. I need to work on my counters.”

“Tomorrow at 3. That’s the only time I have.”

“See you then.”

He snatched the paper from her hands and left. It was likely he saw through her lie, and while she hated that she had done that to him, she didn’t want to deal with it right now. Not when her office mate’s eyes were trained on her. Part of her didn’t want to risk mentioning that she did indeed have a second date scheduled in case Claude came back and called her on the fact that she had lied to him. The other part of her wanted to wait until she had a stronger sense of what really was going on in her personal life before she really spilled everything to her confidant, so she shook her head and indicated that she really wanted that line of conversation dropped.

And it was, until the two started packing up their things. Flayn had kept wanting to ask what Claude had been talking about. She had seen her cousin and the head of the Golden Deer house spending time together, and if she had had to hazard a guess before Claude stopped by, she would have assumed Byleth had gone out with him. Now, she was just confused as to what was going on. Given the cold reception between the two, she figured there had to be some sort of story. 

“You went on a date! And you didn’t tell me?” she finally asked. The younger girl was obviously a little hurt at the exclusion of what was going on in her cousin’s personal life. Unless she could keep things from her father, she was forced to live vicariously through her cousin. The sheltered life she had led thus far wasn’t changing since she knew that her dad was keeping tabs on her at all times. And he never seemed to listen to her whenever she requested some space so that she could live her own life.

Byleth rolled her eyes and zipped her bag up as she thought of what she could say to Flayn. “It was nothing.”  
“Ouch,” laughed the newest intrusion. Dimitri grinned at the two TAs. “And here I was going to ask if you’d come eat with the Lions and I after a last minute training session. Felix wants another chance to prove he’s better than you.”

“We were just about to go eat. Quality cousin time, y’know?” said Byleth as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Mostly because she wanted to end her day already. Dinner with Flayn once a week was a good chance to get her cousin away from her uncle. Even if it was for just a couple of hours.

“It wouldn’t hurt to have another healer around if Flayn wanted to come with,” offered Dimitri. He turned to the green-haired girl. “Though I know your father wants you to stay away from Sylvain.”

“I can come with. Mercedes might need some last minute pointers!” Flayn accepted excitedly, pointedly ignoring the comment about her father. The look on her cousin’s face made Byleth cave. Seteth was known for being overprotective, and this was really the only chance that she had to help get her cousin more socialization. If it was an issue the next time she saw her uncle, falling on the sword wouldn’t be too bad. He knew that his niece had a hard head, and if she took responsibility, he’d believe it and let it pass.

“Fine,” she said, hoisting her bag over her shoulder. 

She ushered everyone out of the room and locked the door behind them. Once it was closed, she figured that really there was no turning back. Byleth didn’t think that she would have to have a training round that evening, but it wasn’t as though she could change her mind. The excitement was basically radiating off of Flayn as they made their way to the training grounds. 

Upon their arrival, Byleth dropped her things in a corner and made her way out to the middle of the grounds. They had arrived shortly before everyone else, and that made her thankful that she got a moment to soak in the few remaining rays of sunlight as the lights that lit the outdoor training area flickered on. The timer was set to go off at the same time regardless of whether or not it was dark out, and she shielded her eyes as the first one came to life. She kicked the toe of her tennis shoe into the dirt and was thankful that she was already dressed to participate. It was rare to find her on random school days not dressed as though she was going to the gym or training grounds as that was primarily where she could be found.

Her cousin sat on her backpack as she and those who were studying magic rather than physical combat gathered in a corner. It had been Byleth’s suggestion to keep the girl’s outfit from getting dirty, and it helped her keep track of where her things were since once she had had her phone stolen from a bag at the gym when she had been changing out of sweaty clothes. The other students, as they showed up, each seemed to pair up and find a rhythm for training. One team would spar, and once a winner was announced, others would take their place. 

It wasn’t until Felix approached her that Byleth really got to participate. That was the whole reason she was there after all. She wanted to see if Felix could best her for once. Not that she really expected him to. His weaknesses never seemed to change, and she quickly exploited them. The sweat started to bead on both their foreheads as neither wanted to let this match be easily won or lost. The clash of dulled training swords brought the attention of the others as they started to cheer for either their TA or their housemate. Dimitri’s voice was missing from the clamor, and Byleth had to expect that that was because he didn’t want to show any favoritism lest she or Felix held that against him.

All it took was for Felix to fall for one of her tricks, and she had him. Her sword was held to his throat as she held a wooden training dagger to his stomach. The move was one that she had been taught during her youth when she and her father traveled and worked before he decided to settle down for his job as a professor. Anger flashed in his eyes as he realized that she had once again bested him.

“I’ll beat you eventually,” hissed Felix. That ferocity was something that she had grown to appreciate during her time training him and the other sword fighters. Byleth took a step back and wiped some of the sweat from her brow before turning to the rest of the group gathered at the training grounds. Fighting with Felix always helped her realize where her own weaknesses were and how to improve upon them, so she never would turn down a chance to go up against him. 

“You keep saying that, but it hasn’t happened yet,” laughed Dimitri. “Care to go again, Byleth?”

She shrugged and got back to her starting position. It wasn’t hard to realize that sparring with her was the best way to keep sharp on her skills while studying. She figured that if she kept training like this, she would be able to skip the gym that night or at least go only for a jog if it suited her. Her thoughts distracted her from the fact that her new opponent had stepped up with a training lance.

“Ready?”

“Only if you promise not to go easy on me,” she answered. 

Dimitri’s strength was always a surprise to her. Even when it seemed like he was holding back, it was like fighting others at full strength. Her plan was to use the height difference and his size in her advantage. She was faster and had an easier time dodging jabs than he did, but he had the upper hand of having not just finished a match. 

She held her ground as the match drew on. Byleth was beginning to tire, and she could feel her speed slowing. It had been a long day, and Dimitri took advantage of one of her momentary pauses to use the lance to wipe her feet out from under her. He had seen her dodge the attack before by jumping, but hoped that this time she wouldn’t have the reaction time. And she didn’t. A smile played on his lips as he watched her sit stunned in the dirt. Of course, he knew that this wasn’t exactly the end of a match until he held her at the tip of his lance, but he discarded it to offer her a hand up.

“You’ve gotten a lot better than our first match.” That was all Byleth had to offer to him as she took his hand. She wiped the dust off from her clothes and looked over at her students. It was no surprise to her that Ingrid was snacking on something as everyone got ready to go eat.

“You and Flayn are still invited to eat with us. We’re probably going to order food to the house,” Dimitri told her as they stepped to join the group. Her cousin was still walking and talking with Mercedes and Annette, so it made sense to her to just stay with the group for dinner. She’d have a chance to fill her cousin in on everything another time. Especially since there would be a chance for the two to talk after her time training with Claude the following day. She shook her head to rid it of those thoughts and reminders as she offered a smile to the man standing in front of her there and then.

“I’m in,” she told him. She took his hand in hers and gave it a soft squeeze. Dimitri smiled at her and let go of her hand before draping his arm over her shoulders and walking in step with her. Her head leaned against his chest as they walked, and any worries she had were quickly washed away by the ease that she was getting to spend time with the prince rather than just talk about him and wish he was there.

\--

“I told you to make a move,” Hilda chided as Claude came back from getting his paper. She had been pushing him to ask their TA out since the girl had borrowed a dress, yet no move had been made on Claude’s part. 

It was clear to pretty much everyone that since that first party he had taken an interest in Byleth. The two ate lunch together multiple times a week, and it always seemed that if there was free time for either of them, the other was there with them. Hilda had even thought at one point of asking Claude and Byleth to join her and Caspar one evening just to hang out like on a double date. She just wanted Claude to have asked out the girl before offering up one of her dates to be intruded upon.

“I was going to,” he muttered. “But his princeliness beat me to it.”

“Showing up randomly at her apartment isn’t a move,” Hilda told him. “Besides, you had chances to ask her out. Like other than getting lunch or coffee at the library.”

She had a point. He had hemmed and hawed about asking her out, and by the time he thought maybe he should, he was just intruding on someone else’s time with her. Not that he should be too surprised. There had been talks that Dimitri was going to ask her out. Little things he had overheard between the prince and his friends. Claude just thought that there was going to be a bit more time before it happened. Now, he knew that his chance had passed him by.

In his opinion, he could just wait it out. Dimitri had to weigh what was best for his future kingdom, and there was a chance that the daughter of a military hero turned professor was not the best look for him. His position wasn’t as grand in title as “prince,” but his grandfather had emphasized that it was better for him to see someone on his level just for appearances. That might have been just bitterness over his mother eloping though. Byleth’s feelings in the situation only occurred to him as he wondered aloud about it all when he opened his textbook to the last page he had studied.

“I could just put feelers out tomorrow,” he shrugged.  
“Why do that when you could just ask her to eat with you?” laughed Lorenz as he made his way into the conversation. It was clear that “I could give you pointers.”

“Only if the point is to drive her further away,” retorted Hilda. 

This elicited an eyeroll from Lorenz as he started to monologue and point out all of the ways that Claude could attempt to woo the girl he was after. It slowly became evident to the head of the house and his right hand girl that their friend had no idea who it was that Claude was interested in nor were the ideas useful unless he wanted to be told to never speak to her again. This was enough of a reason to tune him out as they continued to sit in the den and finish up any work that Hilda had put off until the last minute, which was admittedly most of her assignments for the semester that didn’t have a set due date.

Slowly the rest of the house made their way in and out of the area, offering up a good distraction for the evening after Lorenz had finished explaining the proper ways to win one’s affection. It took a few of the girls pointing out how the things that he was spewing were wrong before he had sputtered out and left in a huff. Claude didn’t mind the new quiet that settled in on the couches save for the little bit of muttering that came about as problems were worked through. 

The young man excused himself, and he collapsed into his bed. The opportunity had passed him by, and he hated that. There was no scheming that would fix the situation. Defeat wasn’t something that he wanted to admit. He ignored his phone as it dinged with a text coming in. Another ping caused him to roll his eyes as he didn’t feel like dealing with whomever was trying to get his attention. He tossed it off his bed into a bag and ignored it as he slipped into sleep. _I’m sorry_ lit up his screen before it went dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took longer than I planned. I meant to have something up earlier, but life, y'know?
> 
> I appreciate all of you guys who read this, and I think I finally have a good sense of where I'm actually going with it ♥


	7. Chapter 7

Wednesdays were always a blessing. There were no classes that she had to oversee, and the classes she had to attend were relatively easy. The added hour of being in her office gave Byleth a chance to finish up any work that she had accumulated at the beginning of the week. None of her students had stopped by, and that wasn’t really a surprise since she didn’t think they would. The Blue Lions were prepared as far as she was concerned after last night’s training. The Black Eagles, well, she rarely was approached directly by Edelgard for help, but some of the students came to her. Or were dragged to her by others if Hubert thought someone was falling behind. The Golden Deer seemed to have everything handled if she was being honest. They didn’t seem to need her. That was probably for the best given how the past week had played out.

As she sat at her desk, Byleth was partially looking forward to seeing Claude. She had looked over everything that she could, and since there had only been a few people in and out of the office to see Flayn since she came in for office hours, she’d had enough time to mentally prepare for it. Her cousin had stopped pestering her for date details after they left dinner the night before. She had given a ride to the girl before returning to her own apartment rather than accepting an invitation to stay with Dimitri and study. None of their other courses overlapped, but they were each taking things that the other had taken in previous terms. A smile played on her lips as she thought about seeing if he wanted to come over to study after she got home that evening.

 _Knock_.

“You ready, Teach?”

“As I’ll ever be,” she tells Claude as she gathers her bag and locks the drawers of her desk. There hadn’t been a point in her looking up since she knew it had to be him. He was the only one who called her ‘Teach’ and he was right on time. It was as soon as their eyes met that she wondered if she was making a mistake not insisting that it be a group event with all of the Golden Deer rather than a one on one session. The glint in his emerald eyes made her realize it was better to just get this over with and maybe talk to him about what had happened.

No words were shared as they made their way to the training grounds. Silence felt natural between the two of them as they each prepared. There wasn’t likely going to be anyone else there that afternoon, and so Byleth felt better about leaving her bag against the wall rather than finding a locker and leaving it in there. Claude followed the same logic as he placed his backpack next to hers and leaned the sheath of his bow against the wall as he took off his jacket and prepared for whatever it was he wanted to work on that day. It was quiet around the pair. For that, she was exceedingly thankful.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he finally asked. Byleth looked up at him from where she was stretching and frowned. That wasn’t the question she expected him to start with. In fact, she wanted to ease into it differently. Not just take the plunge and figure out what the issue was.

“A better question is why were you coming to see me,” she quipped. The defensiveness of her tone caught them both off guard. His slight shrug was the only answer she got as the silence fell over them once again. Her eyes stayed on the ground at his feet while his were trained on her. It was as though he was waiting for her to make the first move. Like always. Her steps were always sure when they sparred, and Claude knew that. He’d paid attention when she taught and watched intently whenever he wasn’t the one up against her. It was important to figure out how to best win.

Byleth’s lips pursed as she took in the setup in front of them. The whole purpose was to get some work in for Claude. He said he wanted to work on something, but she couldn’t recall what. Not that it mattered. As far as she knew, he had never struggled with any of the certification exams. Not the ones that she had been there for, and none for the ones he had to take for the classes prior to this term’s. That kept her on edge. It may have been to help him, but she was competitive. That was what kept her in the matches rather than letting her students just spar and pointing out everything that didn’t work for them.

For just a moment, her mind followed that track to figuring out what she had determined to be his weakness, and that was just enough for Claude to aim and release. The whistle of the arrow flying past her ear brought a smile to her lips. At least he wasn’t going easy on her, she thought. She took this start to their match to mean it was going to be a tougher one. Disarming him was going to be her goal rather than actually winning. Just to see what happened when he lost his bow. Without a sword, Byleth had other options like a dagger that she kept on her ever since her father had been a mercenary and brought her with him or just using whatever the enemy had on them to her advantage. She wasn’t sure there was anything that Claude could use against her if he lost the bow he held. It was the same one that he had with him all the time, and she knew that he was using the same arrows with blunt, rubber tips on them that were mandated by the school for all archers. They still hurt, but at least it was rare that they ever broke the skin or did worse than a bruise.

She rushed at him, trying to close the distance between them, but Claude moved quickly. As Byleth had to turn and face him, he managed to hit her. An arrow struck her in the collarbone, and it fired her up even more. She had to figure out a different tactic, and so she took a step back, working on regaining the upper hand that she had held every other time. Except now she wondered if he had been trying to play her until now like a pool shark acting as though they don’t know how to play and then utterly destroying their opponent. The heir to the Leicester Alliance would be that type. According to the rumors that she heard, maybe she was underestimating him all the other times they did this.

“You’re going easy on me, Teach,” he laughed as she finally charged at him again. She smirked since her distraction worked. Her sword had made contact with his bow, and his grip slipped in surprise. As the space between them disappeared, she grabbed at the bow and pulled it loose, letting it fall to the floor. His eyes trained on hers as they stood close. Her chest heaved as she caught her breath. The move was one she thought was risky and could lead to her getting hit with the bow rather than shot.

“I can try harder next time,” she said once she felt that she could speak without gasping. She turned and walked to her stuff to grab a bottle of water. It wasn’t that that match had gone on long, but she wanted to hydrate before going into round two. She took a swig from the bottle with her attention completely off of Claude, missing as he picked the bow back up and aimed for the bottle in her hands. It hit and knocked the bottle to the ground, making a small puddle at her feet. “Hey!”

“Gotta get you off guard,” he grinned at her. “Are you going to answer my question now? Or since you won, do I have to answer yours?”

“I didn’t know I had to tell you I was hanging out with Dimitri,” she answered him. That was mostly the truth. A bit of her felt that if she didn’t tell him, they wouldn’t have to have this conversation or feel as though she was hurting him. Maybe it also didn’t help that the voice in her head also wanted to keep from anyone’s feelings being hurt. “I don’t know. It didn’t seem like it was something you had to know.”

“Ow. I’d tell you if I was going out with someone,” he retorted. His face fell as he looked at her. Like he realized that it was now his turn to answer her question. “I was there to just see you.”

“You could have asked if you could come over,” she said.

“I figured you’d say no, so I just showed up,” he admitted to her. That felt more like the truth than anything else that he had said yet. Claude searched her face for a reaction, but he didn’t find one. In the short while that they had been friends, he knew that her emotions rarely played out over her face, but he had expected something, anything, from her at that moment.

“When have I ever said no to hanging out with you?” She was genuinely confused by that. Whenever he had approached her after class to grab lunch or train together, she always said yes unless she already had plans. If he asked her to stop by the Golden Deer’s house, she would, and she’d stay until she felt she was wearing out her welcome or decided it was too late to stay.

Of course, the only thing that had changed was the fact that now she was spending time with someone else. Dimitri had asked her out, and she kept putting off giving him an answer because she had been waiting to see if Claude asked her out on a date rather than just to hang out as anything other than friends. He never seemed like he was interested in progressing their relationship past where they were. The crown prince was upfront on the fact that he wanted more than a platonic relationship.

Byleth grabbed her water and made sure to watch her friend to see if he repeated the same move as before. When he didn’t, she dropped the bottle to take the sword back in her hand. Their training had barely started, and she didn’t want to spend most of it rehashing what their friendship was or where it stood. His anger, and the seeming anger of his friends, seemed to her to be nothing more than a nuisance that she trusted would be gone by the next party or hopefully by the time certifications came around.

Claude picked up the quiver of blunt-tipped arrows and eyed his opponent. He knew it only took one move for her to gain the upper hand. She held her ground, keeping the distance between them. He held an advantage if there was any more space between them, so it was clear to her that she needed to get closer, but that wasn’t always easy to do as it was to think of making the move. He was fast, but she had to hope she would be faster.

She tried to keep low to the ground as she moved, but it wasn’t any use as an arrow hit her shoulder. A curse escaped her as she dropped her sword. She rubbed where she was hit and then picked the sword back up. A real arrow would have pierced her, and she knew she would have been dead on a battlefield. Here? She still had a chance to win again. She dodged the second arrow that came at her, muttering curses at Claude as she planned her next course of action. It was going to take more work to get to him as he notched the next arrow. Of course, she moved forward trying to get a hit on him.

“Fuck,” she groaned as it hit her in the stomach. She doubled over, holding where the arrow had made contact.

“Sorry,” Claude said as he walked over to her. The tilt of his voice made it clear that he felt a bit smug that he had managed to win this time. This time, it was her turn to answer questions even if he had skirted around hers. It had been a specialty of his growing up: avoiding conversations that he didn’t want to have or that he didn’t find necessary. He got the answers that he wanted and then changed topics to help make sure he didn’t give too much away.

“I didn’t tell you because I didn’t know how you’d react,” she shrugged. Really, she was afraid that he would have been mad or even frustrated that she was seeing someone in a different house, but if she could keep that to herself and remind herself that she liked the time she spent with Dimitri, that was all that mattered. She turned her back to him to pull her shirt up and check the state of the bruising on her stomach. The shoulder was the one that she was more worried about, but it would just take a bit of ice and not going too intense in training for recovery. “I think I’m done for the day.”

Claude watched closely as she sat against the wall, cradling her water bottle. “Do I get an extra question since you’re giving up?” He slid down next to her and took the bottle, stealing a sip of water before handing it back. A shrug was the only response he got. “Fine. Would you have said yes if I asked you out instead?”

“Yes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally have a computer again! I should be posting more regularly until I start my new job since I lost mine due to the pandemic.
> 
> And an idea for a camp AU fic, and it's a Dimileth fic if anyone's actually interested in it.


End file.
